Sharecom app for condo residents nurtures neighborliness and sharing

Crowdsourcing business Customedia, in collaboration with lifestyle research institute +ONE LIFE LAB, launched a sharing economy platform for residential condominiums called Sharecom. This app is planned to be piloted in the Livio Rason Matsudo Station Premier condominium on the outskirts of Tokyo. These brand-new condos will be available for sale in December. By using this app, residents will be able to engage in extensive peer-to-peer transactions with other residents. The transactions will include selling unwanted possessions or borrowing tools, building furniture and even carpooling.

The objective of this app is not only to facilitate collaborative consumption but also to help residents establish healthy relationships with each other. Almost all transactions, from payments to communication, can be done on the app. In addition, residents can also organize casual get-togethers or informal workshops to share quality time together. Instead of going to second-hand shops or using e-commerce apps, residents may be able to get cheap finds on Sharecom too.

The reasons behind hesitance about resource-sharing

Sharecom was conceptualized based on a sharing-economy awareness online survey conducted in January by +ONE LIFE LAB, which involved 1,000 participants. The survey revealed that 40% of the respondents expressed an interest in a sharing economy. Meanwhile, 80% answered that they had never used any such services.

Despite the relatively passive response about sharing economies, +ONE LIFE LAB saw an opening in two findings about resource-sharing. The main concern expressed about using sharing-economy services turned out to be security and privacy. However, when the network was limited to people from the same neighborhood, the hesitance about resource-sharing decreased by 15%. As for the method of delivery, when the users were given a choice of using mailboxes or parcel lockers compared to face-to-face delivery, hesitance to use such a service decreased by 20%.

The app promotes healthy relationships, protecting security and privacy

Reflecting these findings, Sharecom users can choose to use the parcel lockers in the condo when it comes to lending and borrowing goods. Moreover, the communal spaces in the condo are also available for recreational or service-related purposes. Therefore, users can maintain appropriate boundaries with neighbors while making the most of the app’s features.

Sharecom will help residents in Livio Rason Matsudo access cheaper goods and services, and also grow a sense of trust through interpersonal collaboration and resource-sharing. The act of sharing and caring for one another will help steer the communal dwelling experience in the right direction.